Crony Car Capitalism Capper

Obama’s reelection hardly negates the fact that his regime is one of the most corrupt in American history. This fact is by now obvious to all but the most partisan Obamistas. Crony green energy deals, crony college deals, crony car industry deals — the list is long.

But among the most egregious was the rigged bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler, in which the legitimate secured creditors were cheated out of what they were due under settled law in favor of the UAW — which had conveniently contributed tens of millions of dollars to Obama’s coffers. The UAW was to begin with the biggest reason that American auto companies became basket cases, and it received massive amounts of stock in both companies. It was then allowed to liquidate its stock before the taxpayers were allowed to liquidate theirs. The taxpayers ate billions of bucks in losses.

All this dirty business was done to protect grossly inefficient, overpaid, greedy auto union workers, most of whose jobs would likely have been saved (albeit at lower compensation) in a regular bankruptcy.

Finally we learned what has to be the ultimate joke. In the corrupt crony bankruptcy, Chrysler — after being bailed out with billions of taxpayer dollars — was essentially given away free to an Italian car company, Fiat. Fiat used the opportunity to expand its presence in America. And the most recent news is that Fiat will likely move some of the Jeep operations to China, and the rest of the Jeep and Chrysler operations to Italy.

As the report explains, “To counter the severe slump in European sales, [Fiat] is considering building Chrysler models in Italy, including Jeeps, for export to North America. The Italian government is evaluating tax rebates on export goods to help Fiat.”

So the Italian taxpayers will pay the highly unionized Italian auto workers to make cars at a cheap subsidized price — to put American auto workers out of work, and ensure that the American taxpayers get the ultimate hosing.

The stench from this corrupt deal grows in intensity every day, with each new permutation of the putrid process.

Is it too much to hope that the House of Representatives will mount a serious investigation into the whole crony crowd responsible for this abortion? I mean (to name names) Obama, “auto czar” Steve Rattner, the management team of GM and Chrysler, including Sergio Marchionne (CEO of Fiat), and especially all the leaders of the UAW?

Alas, it probably is too much to hope. The crime of the century will likely be swept under the carpet of history.

About this Author

Gary Jason is an academic philosopher and a senior editor of Liberty. His recent books, Disturbing Thoughts: Unorthodox Writings on Timely Issues and Philosophic Thoughts: Essays on Logic and Philosophy are both available through Amazon.